Cecil John
Rhodes was the son of a Hertfordshire clergyman. He first
arrived to
South Africa in 1870, to join his oldest brother, Herbert,
in Natal.

In the early 1870's the brothers
staked a claim in the newly opened Kimberley diamond
fields. Close to the mid 1870's Rhodes decided to
return to England were he enrolled into Oxford
University. He didn't get his degree until the early
1880's due to the fact that his studies were punctuated
with repeated visits to South
Africa. A trip in 1875 through the rich territories of
Transvaal and Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
apparently helped to inspire Rhodes with the dream
of British rule over all southern Africa; later he
spoke of British dominion “from the Cape to
Cairo.” His
power and strength in the diamond-mining industry developed until,
in 1880, he formed the De Beers Mining
Company.

With time Rhodes were
focused more towards the lands in the north of the
Limpopo river, to what was become Rhodesia. John Smith
Moffat, at the instigation of Rhodes persuaded Lobengula,
to sign the Moffat Treaty. In terms of the treaty the Matebele agreed not to enter into correspondence or treaty with
any foreign power without the sanction of the British
High Commissioner for South Africa. The Transvaal and
Portuguese Governments both objected to the Moffat
Treaty, but the British Government remained adamant.

Armed with mineral rights
and various influences based on treaties, Rhodes used
his considerable financial resources, derived from
control of De Beers and Gold Fields of South Africa, to
form the British South Africa Company (BSAC). Under the
name of British South Africa Company, Rhodes used agents
to obtain concessions. The five all embracing major
concessions covering the period 2 September 1880 to 6
October 1888 that were concluded by agents of
Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (BSAC), are
:

2 September 1880
2 September 1881
24 February 1887
15 November 1887
30 October 1888

Of all the concessions, the
most critical was the Rudd Concession, the previous had
been used mainly to get the trust the Matebele King Lobengula. The ploy had worked, setting the
stage for Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (of
which he was a Director) to
mastermind the coup d’ grace in the form of the Rudd
Concession. The Rudd Concession also conferred sweeping
commercial and legal powers on Rhodes. Furthermore to in
order to weaken any possible resolve on Lobengula’s
part, scouts in the Rudd party secretly agitated the
neighboring Shona, who believed that the emerging
problems were precipitated by the Matebele.

So in 1888 Rhodes had tricked Lobengula , the Ndebele (Matebele) ruler, into an agreement by
which Rhodes secured mining concessions in Matebeleland
and Mashonaland. He exploited these through the British
South Africa Company (organized 1889), which soon
established complete control of the territory. In 1888,
Rhodes had also secured a monopoly of the Kimberley
diamond production by the creation (with Barnato) of the
De Beers Consolidated Mines, which reputedly had the
largest capital in the world.

Rhodes next mission was to
obtain a charter that granted the British South Africa Company
the right to
operate in all Southern Africa, north of Bechuanaland
(Botswana), north and west of the Zuid-Afrikaanse
Republiek (Transvaal), and west of the Portuguese
possessions. No northern limit was stipulated.

Rhodes
rapidly prevailed upon BSAC paid government officials in
London to push through various finalizing documents
which eventually resulted in full BSAC political,
administrative, economic and military authority over all
land north of the Limpopo River. Queen Victoria granted
THE ROYAL CHARTER to BSAC in July, 1889. The first
pioneer column, 180 men and 500 troops in employ of the
BSAC left Kimberley for Rhodesia in May 1890, and
established Fort Victoria in August 1890. A party of
pioneers, including the renowned hunter, Courtney Selous,
continued further northwards, and in September 1890
raised the British flag at what was then Salisbury (now
Harare).

In 1881, Rhodes entered the
Parliament of Cape Colony, in which he held a seat for
the remainder of his life, Rhodes became the prime
minister, and virtual dictator, of Cape Colony in 1890.
He conspired to overthrow of the South African
government of Paul Kruger. In the late 1890's a
committee of the British House of Commons pronounced him
guilty of grave breaches of duty as prime minister (of
the Cape Colony) and as administrator of the British
South Africa Company. Thereafter he devoted himself
primarily to the development of the country that had
been named Rhodesia (since 1980, Zimbabwe) in his honor.
In the South African War he commanded troops at
Kimberley and was besieged there for a time, He died in
South Africa. Cecil Rhodes was buried at the Matopos Hills of Zimbabwe. Rhodes left nearly all his
fortune of millions in sterling pounds to public
service, of which the
chief benefactions is the Rhodes Scholarships to
Oxford.

Summary of the
critical events in Cecil John Rhodes life

DATE

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

1853

He is born on the
5th of July in
Bishops Stortford, England.

1870

For health
reasons he moves to Natal,
South Africa; he acquires a
fortune after he becomes a
diamond prospector.

1873

Begins a degree at
the University of Oxford.

1881

Joins the Cape
Colony Parliament.

1885

Assists in the
addition of Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
as a colony of the
British Empire.

1888

He founds De Beers
Consolidated Mines, which eventually
monopolized diamond
production in Kimberley.

1888

Instigates the
acquisition of the Ruud concession

1889

Using the Rudd
concession acquired the previous year,
he gets a charter to
develop and mine in Matabeleland.